The integration of MKIS and BDA, along with data fusion techniques, can lead to more targeted and effective marketing strategies for touristic destinations. This can result in better customer satisfaction, increased visitor numbers, and higher revenue for the destinations. By leveraging data fusion, touristic destinations can gain a deeper understanding of tourists' preferences and behaviors. This understanding can enable them to provide personalized and tailored experiences, leading to higher visitor satisfaction and loyalty. The chapter aims to shed light on the integration of MKIS and BDA in the marketing of touristic destinations and highlight the potential of data fusion for destination success. By bridging the gap between traditional marketing information systems and the advanced analytics capabilities of big data, this chapter seeks to empower touristic destinations with actionable insights for effective marketing strategies and improved visitor experiences.
TopIntroduction
The marketing of tourist destinations plays a crucial role in the economic development of diverse countries and regions. To attract and keep visitors, these destinations must efficiently showcase their appeal. In the digital age, the abundance of data and advancements in data analytics provides an opportunity for tourist destinations to gain valuable insights into tourists' preferences, behaviors, and patterns. This, consequently, empowers them to formulate precise marketing strategies and improve the overall tourist experience (Telfer & Sharpley, 2015).
In the realm of marketing, Marketing Information Systems (MKIS) play a crucial role by facilitating the collection, organization, analysis, and dissemination of marketing information. They offer valuable insights into market trends, customer preferences, and competitors' activities, thereby supporting the decision-making process (Tsiakis, 2015; Erevelles et al., 2016). Big Data Analytics (BDA) involves extracting valuable insights from extensive and intricate datasets (Belhadi et al., 2019). In today's digital landscape, tourist destinations have unprecedented access to an abundant volume of data generated by tourists through various online platforms and social media channels (Ferrer-Rosell et al., 2023). The integration of MKIS and BDA empowers tourist destinations to gain a comprehensive understanding of tourists' preferences, behaviors, and patterns. With this knowledge, destinations can craft targeted marketing campaigns tailored to specific customer segments. Instead of employing a generic approach, destinations can optimize their marketing resources by focusing on segments more likely to positively respond to their offerings. This targeted approach ensures efficient allocation of resources, preventing wastage on marketing efforts that may have limited impact (Ferrer-Rosell et al., 2023; Stylos et al., 2021; Kachniewska, 2021).
Through data fusion, tourist destinations can create personalized marketing messages customized to the preferences and behaviors of individual tourists. By analyzing data from MKIS and BDA sources, destinations can discern specific interests, demographics, and purchasing patterns of tourists. Leveraging this information, personalized marketing messages can be crafted to resonate with each individual. Personalization fosters greater engagement, enhances customer satisfaction, and boosts conversion rates. By allocating resources to personalized marketing efforts, destinations can maximize the returns on their marketing investments (Chandra et al., 2022; Miah et al., 2017).
Moreover, by integrating MKIS and BDA, destinations can scrutinize customer behaviors and activities across various touchpoints. Through monitoring and analyzing interactions like website visits, social media engagements, and transaction histories, destinations can create comprehensive customer profiles that encompass individual behaviors, preferences, and purchase patterns. This analysis of customer behavior facilitates the identification of customer segments that share similar behaviors, enabling destinations to target them with personalized marketing messages and tailored offerings (Kushwaha et al., 2021; Rosário & Dias, 2023).
The aim of this chapter is to scrutinize the amalgamation of MKIS and BDA in the marketing of touristic destinations and evaluate the influence of data fusion on destination success. Data fusion involves the integration of data from diverse sources to create a unified and comprehensive perspective of the phenomenon under study. By merging data from MKIS and BDA, touristic destinations can attain an extensive understanding of tourists' preferences, behaviors, and patterns, thereby capitalizing on the advantages of a holistic approach. The chapter's objectives are as follows: 1) examining the potential benefits of integrating MKIS and BDA in the marketing of touristic destinations, 2) identifying data fusion techniques and methodologies for merging and analyzing data from MKIS and BDA sources, 3) assessing the challenges and limitations associated with integrating MKIS and BDA in the context of touristic destinations, and 4) offering recommendations and insights for touristic destinations on leveraging data fusion to enhance marketing strategies and achieve destination success.